Friday, November 2, 2007

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs International

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il International is an Indian televised children's singing competition announced by Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007 host, Aditya Narayan, on 28 July 2007. The season began on October 19, 2007 and will featured 28 contestants. The show is broadcast on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. [1] It is the 2nd instalment of the "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs" series and the 5th public voting competition in the "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa" series. Chronologically, the show is preceded by Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007.Narayan mentioned that children under the age of 14 and above the age of 7 worldwide can send recordings of their songs onto a CD if they wish to participate in the competition. Furthermore, on October 13, 2007, Narayan also added that Pritam and Sonu Nigam will be the judges of the show.

Regional auditions phase

LocationsThe auditions were held in the following cities in India: * Chandigarh: - 22 September * Ahmedabad: - 22 September * Delhi: - 23 September * Kolkata: - 23 September * Mumbai: - 29 SeptemberInternational auditions took place in the United Kingdom, Dubai, USA, South Africa, Malaysia, Pakistan, New Zealand, Singapore, Fiji, Kenya, Australia, Israel and Hong Kong.

Judges

* Sonu Nigam

* Suresh Wadkar

Sonu Niigaam

Sonu Nigam (Hindi: सोनु निगम), born July 30, 1973 in Faridabad, Haryana, India,[1] is a playback singer whose songs have been featured in numerous Bollywood movies. He has also released numerous Indi-pop albums. He changed the spelling of his last name from Nigam to Niigaam to reflect an auspicious number in astrology.Sonu was born in Faridabad to parents Agam Kumar Nigam and Shobha Nigam. He has 2 sisters called Meenal and Neekita. He attended D J Tyler school.

Background ==== information

Born ==== July 30, 1973 (1973-07-30) (age 34)

Flag of India ==== Faridabad

Genre(s) ==== Pop, Playback singing

Occupation(s) ==== Singer, Actor

Years active ==== 1990–present

Career

Sonu Nigam started his singing career at the age of three, when he joined his father on stage to sing Mohammad Rafi's "Kya Hua Tera Wada". He proceeded from then on to accompany his father on his singing assignments in weddings and parties. He participated in several music competitions in his teenage years and won them all until he was not allowed to participate any more! He moved to Mumbai with his father in search of his proper singing career at the mere age of 18.His initial years in Mumbai proved to be a struggle, and Sonu started by singing covers of Mohammad Rafi songs, mainly for the "Rafi Ki Yaadein" album series. His first movie song as a playback singer was in the film "Janum" which was a major flop in (1990). This film was not officially released due to some reason but some considered it as a flop. Again he got a break as a playback singer in Gulshan Kumar's film Aaja Meri Jaan and then "Accha Sila Diya Tune" (also sung in Gujarati) from "Bewafa Sanam" (1995). The latter was what gave him the recognition needed as a singer. At this time, he also started hosting "Sa Re Ga Ma", a television singing talent competition that became one of the most popular shows on Indian television. The first episode was aired on May 1, 1995. Thereafter, the singing offers poured in, albeit slowly at first. He shot to fame with the song "Sandese Aate Hai" from Border (1997), the music of which was directed by Anu Malik. In the initial stages, he was type-cast as a Rafi-sound-alike. The image was transformed after his brilliant rendition of "Yeh Dil Deewana" in the film Pardes (1997). Since then, he has created a unique trademark style of his own.Over the years, Sonu Nigam has become a major force in the music industry. Sonu has sung playback for countless Hindi movies and has won many awards for them. His rendition of Kal Ho Na Ho is considered a modern legend of sorts. He is generally acclaimed for his versatile voice as well as his excellent emoting in his songs. He is also a popular playback singer for many regional movies, singing effortlessly in many languages from Kannada, Punjabi, Bengali to Tamil, Telugu and many more. He is very famous in the south for his clear pronunciation of non-native languages like Tamil, Kannada etc. His recent hits include Mungaaru Male in Kannada and Kireedom in Tamil. A.R. Rahman introduced Sonu Nigam to tamil music in his superhit venture Jeans (film)(1997) directed by ace director S. Shankar.

Pop albums and concerts

He has released a number of pop albums including "Mausam", "Sapnay Ki Baat", "Kismat", "Deewana", "Jaan"," Yaad", "Chanda Ki Doli" and "Colours of Love", as well as a Punjabi album 'Pyar'. In September 2007, he released a 6-disk collection of Mohammad Rafi's 100 best songs in his memory.Sonu has done concerts in many countries over the years, including Pakistan, UAE, Afghanistan, United States, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, UK, France, Mauritius, South Africa and Australia. Sonu has been recently toured North America in May/June 2007 in a star-studded show called "The Incredibles" with singing legend Asha Bhonsle, as well as current singing sensations Kunal Ganjawala and Kailash Kher. On September 9, 2007, he performed in Toronto, Canada for the third time in one year as part of another North America/Canada tour - this time a solo one called "Simply Sonu". He will be the first Indian singer to ever have a show in Germany when he continues his Simply Sonu tour there in October.He recently performed a bhajan (Vaishnav Jan To) with the Harvard College Sangeet in a ceremony to inaugurate the 28th president of Harvard University, Dr. Drew Gilpin Faust, in the presence of esteemed guests like George Bush, Bill Gates, and Oprah Winfrey.

Television, radio and acting

Besides "Sa Re Ga Ma', he has also hosted Kisme Kitna Hai Dum and has been a judge on Indian Idol seasons 1 and 2. Recently Sonu returned to Indian Idol in season 3 as a celebrity judge. He was also a celebrity judge on Amul Star Voice of India in August. In October 2007, Sonu is all set to return to the sets of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa where he started his career - except that this time it is as a judge in Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs International.Last year, Sonu also hosted his own radio show called Life Ki Dhun With Sonu Nigam on Radiocity 91 FM, where he has had the opportunity of interviewing several music industry greats, including the legendary Lata Mangeshkar. This radio show is available on the net.Sonu's acting career started as a child artist in a number of films. As an adult, Sonu has acted in a few more films, namely 'Jaani Dushmaan' alongside Sunny Deol, Manisha Koirala and Akshay Kumar as well as other actors; 'Kash Aap Hamare Hote' where he plays the lead opposite Juhi Babbar, daughter of Raj Babbar; and lastly Love in Nepal with 'Flora Saini' and 'Sweta Keswani', where he plays the lead again. However it is to be said that all three films have not done terribly well at the box-office. He has not taken up acting since his last venture in Love in Nepal, but has recently been said to be involved in another film as a lead actor. The film, called 'Ankhon Ankhon Mein' is supposedly about a blind singer.

Future projects

His future projects include a semi-classical album, an English album called Spirit Unfolding; as well as his new film as an actor. He is also doing a concert tour in Germany in the last 2 weeks of October and is returning to the sets of Sa Re Ga Ma Pa as a judge on Sa Re Ga Ma Pa L'il Champs International this October.

Personal life

Sonu Nigam is very close to his parents. His mother and father are both very good singers and his father - Agam Kumar Nigam - had a major hit with his album Bewafaai in 2005. He has come back with another hit this year in Phir Bewafaai. He has two sisters, one of whom - Nikita - is also a singer. She has sang a few playback songs and a few stage shows with Sonu. Sonu married his wife Madhurima on 15 February 2002. Although he has had some problems in his marriage and the two apparently had a short period of separation some time back, they are now back together and their relationship is going strong. In fact, Sonu Nigam became a father on 26 July 2007 to his son Nevaan (which means Holy).

Suresh Wadkar

Biography

Suresh Wadkar was born in Kolhapur, India. At the age of 10, he began acquiring basic music education from his Pandit Jialal Vasant. He soon impressed his guru with the quality of voice[1]. He began performing on the stage at a very early age.

Singing career

Though groomed for Indian classical music, he entered the Sur-Singar competition in 1976. Young Suresh won the competition which was judged by illustrious composers from the Indian film industry including Jaidev. It was Jaidev who gave him a break with the song "Seene Mein Jalan" in the film Gaman (released in 1978). This was followed by the film Paheli (released 1977).

Lata Mangeshkar recommends

At the time, Lata Mangeshkar was so impressed with his voice that she strongly recommended him to big names like Laxmikant-Pyarelal, Khayyam and Kalyanji-Anandji.[2]. Laxmikant–Pyarelal, impressed with his voice, soon recorded a duet with Lata "Chal Chameli Bagh Mein" for Krodhi (released in 1981). Soon after they gave him hit songs in Hum Paanch, Pyasa Sawan ("Megha re Megha Re") and above all, his turning point in films - Raj Kapoor’s Prem Rog (released in 1982).In Prem Rog, he sang all the four songs for hero Rishi Kapoor. Among Kalyanji–Anandji’s songs, the song "Hathon Ki Chand Lakeeron Ka" from Vidhaata (released in 1982) was a big hit.Suresh Wadkar also sings non-film hindi and marathi songs. He is also a well-know Marathi playback singer.

With various great names

Suresh Wadkar has sung for some of the most well-known composers in the Indian film industry. These include:

* Laxmikant Pyarelal

* Kalyanji Anandji

* R.D. Burman

* Ilayaraja

* Ravindra Jain

* Bappi Lahiri

* Khaiyyam

* Usha Khanna

* A.R. Rehman

* early Anu Malikand even veterans like

* Shanker * Ravi * Chitragupta

* Jaidev

* Hridayanath Mangeshkarhe sang for the best of banners and filmmakers like: